Tiahuanaco

This Saturday Alex, Katie, Molly and I went to the ruins of Tiahuanaco, an ancient civilization which preceded the Incas. The ruins were beautiful and we had a very nice, young girl who was our guide. We saw the Door of the Sun which was used like a clock and a calendar. It has 365 notches for the days of the year and the pillars in the center of the plaza act like a sun dial. The walls are adorned with hundreds of faces which represent the different races living on earth at the time of Tiahuanaco. The faces were originally decorated with gold, which was confiscated by the conquistadores as they arrived. The stones of the ruins are missing in places. But they didn’t travel far. The Spaniards used them to build churches nearby. There is also a statue which has evidence of an exorcism performed on it to purify the devils which they believe the heathens worshiped. It has a triangle, circle and cross etched in its side. I’m not the first person to be awestruck by the accomplishments of people who came before me, but there is something to be said for a close up encounter with the beauty and the mystery of the past. When I came home, I sat and had dinner with Arminda, just cheese and bread and good conversation. I love her. She always cares about how my day went. Then I went to get ice cream with Marie, my lovely fellow Irish Catholic down here. She left Saturday night- I'll miss you Marie.